To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what steps his Office has taken to provide (a) a network of refuge provision and (b) reintegration support for runaways under the age of 16 years since 2001; in how many local areas there is a named person to co-ordinate services for runaways; what progress has been made in reducing local variations in the provision of such services; and if he will make a statement; (183170)

I agree that it is vital to ensure the safety and well-being of those children and young people who run away from home or care, and to tackle the underlying causes that lead to running away.

A report from the social exclusion unit (SEU) in 2002 identified the problems for young runaways and set out how the Government should respond, highlighting the importance of early intervention and prevention, and of integrating children’s services. These issues were addressed in the Every Child Matters Green Paper and the subsequent Change for Children programme. Last year, we commissioned the Children’s Society to assess how far these changes had in fact improved services for young runaways, and to identify what more needed to be done. We received their report “Stepping Up” in the autumn and, in response, we have established a cross-departmental working group on young runaways, to co-ordinate the Government’s work on young runaways.

The working group will develop an action plan on young runaways, to be published in June 2008, which will set out the necessary actions to improve services for young runaways, building on the principles set out in the “Stepping Up” report recommendations, and the recommendations made following the parliamentary panel hearings on young runaways in October 2007. The action plan will cover emergency accommodation provision, recognising the need for young runaways to have safe places or ‘breathing spaces’ to go to in a crisis, and the Missing from Home and Care guidance, to support local areas in delivering effective services for young runaways.

We do not currently collect data centrally on young runaways and the services they receive. A new indicator on young people who run away from home or care has been included in the National Indicator Set, to be measured from 2009. The working group will consider what data collections will best support this indicator, and their conclusions will be represented in the action plan.